


building bridges

by masi



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:43:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1286533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masi/pseuds/masi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin plans to move back to his family’s estate. Levi agrees to fix up the house for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	building bridges

Levi has just finished parking his car in Hange’s driveway when Erwin’s silver Audi pulls up next to him. Levi takes his keys out of the ignition and steps out. He waits for Erwin to approach.

Erwin doesn’t make him wait long. As he closes his car door, Erwin asks, “Late night?” He is smiling.

“Yeah.” Levi glances at the house. He can see Hange talking animatedly inside the kitchen while Moblit sets the table for dinner. His stomach rumbles.

He turns back to Erwin. “Had to do afterschool detention duty,” he explains. “And then I had to drop off those brats because they can’t take the bus home like civilized people.”

“Ah.” Erwin is still smiling. He looks good as always, his suit and tie perfect, his back and shoulders held perfectly, even though it is past ten on a Friday night. His job is easier than Levi’s – being the Superintendent of the district schools is mostly paperwork, probably, nothing like managing rowdy kids for hours on end – but still. Friday night.

“By brats, you mean Jean and Eren, correct?” Erwin continues. “They still need supervision? I remember the time you told me one of them left a whoopee cushion on you chair with the other’s name on it.” He laughs.

“They know better than to mess with me now, but I found them making out in the locker room today. Can you believe the nerve? I made them scrub the floor of the locker room during detention.”

Erwin steps closer, and Levi catches a faint whiff of cologne. It makes Levi hungry in a different sort of way. He pockets his keys, asks, “You want to come in for dinner? I’ll make sure Hange doesn’t talk. And Moblit’s okay when he’s not fussing over Shitty Glasses.”

“Thank you, but.” Erwin glances at the house. “Perhaps another time. Actually, I came to ask you a favor.” 

“Oh?”

Typical, Levi thinks. But that’s what friends do for each other, isn’t it, favors. Without grudging them the favor. 

“What do you need?” Levi asks.

“My mother has moved to a smaller house.” Erwin looks at Levi for a moment, eyes even more unreadable than usual. “She has left me in charge of the family estate.”

It really is too dark in this neighborhood. The lone streetlight is a block away, flickering intermittently. At least Moblit has remembered to turn the outdoor light on. Half of Erwin’s face is illuminated by that light. He looks somber.

“You’re planning to sell it?” Levi asks. “You want me to spread the word around?”

“Actually,” Erwin slides his hands into his pockets, “I was thinking of moving into it myself.”

Levi thinks of Erwin’s penthouse apartment in the city, the high ceilings and the windows, remembers standing in front of the windows with his fingers pressed to the cool glass and wondering what it would feel like to touch the sky, thinking that this is it, the highest he can get, the vast blue of the sky above his head and the city spread out below. 

He can’t imagine anyone wanting to trade that for a house in the middle of nowhere. Not that suburbia is exactly nowhere, but it does get pretty quiet after like eight at night and the silence gets under Levi’s skin sometimes, makes him irritable and restless. The only reason Levi is living here is because Hange has basically given him an entire basement for free. And, also, the house is only five miles from work, so that’s really helpful for his gas budget.

Levi says, “You do what you have to do.” He shrugs. “So, what do you want me to do?”

“Well, I know how good you are at cleaning.” Erwin smiles. “Would you mind fixing up the house for me? And you have free license to change it as you see fit, anything you like, furniture, fixtures, wallpaper.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Levi snorts. “Do I look like an interior designer to you? Hire someone who gives two shits about furniture.”

He can’t help but feel flattered though. Erwin isn’t just asking him out of laziness or to save money. He must really value Levi’s opinion. 

Erwin says, “I trust that you will do a good job, Levi. Think it over. I want to move in by the end of this month. Let me know by tomorrow, please.”

He turns back to his car. Levi already knows his answer, so he calls after Erwin, “Fine. When do I start?”

“Thank you,” Erwin replies, and it sounds sincere. “I really appreciate this, Levi.”

***

He has visited many different places with and for Erwin in the two years they have known each other, but this is his first time stepping inside the house Erwin grew up in.

The house isn’t all that special, one of those old, small mansion types set upon five acres of land, boxed in by high fences, lots of trees in the distance. The grass is trimmed to perfection, but many of the rooms are filled with cobwebs, the fallboard of the grand piano is caked with dust, and the furniture wouldn’t be out of place in a Victorian manor. Not that Levi really knows much about Victorian manors. He’s just seen a few period dramas here and there when he had to sub for Petra’s history classes.

He is pulling aside the heavy curtains in the family room when Eren Yeager walks into the room, surgical mask hanging from his neck and broom in hand. “Where do you want us to start, Sir?” he asks. 

Jean Kirstein follows behind, sulky expression in place. He is not quite as deferential as Eren, maybe because he is punished less often. Levi lets it slide. He doesn’t believe in punishing people for their facial expressions, that would be too ironic.

“First floor,” Levi says, “and I’m going to warn you two only once. I better not catch you so much as blowing a kiss at each other. You’re doing this for your forty hours of volunteer service, so that you can have a chance at getting into a good college. You better not screw it up.”

“Who would blow a kiss at that horse face?!” Eren shouts at Jean. 

“Better a horse face than a frog face!” Jean replies. 

“At least I don’t smell like a frog!”

“No you smell worse, like frog shit.”

Eren opens his mouth to retort, and then he frowns. “Where do frogs even shit? Doesn’t it go into the water? How would you know how it smells like then, huh?”

Levi assigns them to opposite ends of the floor, and then he heads upstairs.

The stairs creak as he goes up. He reaches the landing, which creaks as well. There are four bedrooms facing the landing, and all the doors are shut. Levi heads for the one to his far right. 

One of the reasons he agreed to this job is because he wouldn’t mind learning more about Erwin. That man is even more close-mouthed than he is about personal matters, operates on a need-to-know basis. He can’t wait to see Erwin’s childhood bedroom. The present-day Erwin prefers minimalist décor, sparse and cold, a scattering of expensive knick-knacks here and there.

Levi opens the door and coughs. He is in a small room that only has a single-sized bed and an empty desk, lined with dust, below a window that has a rust-covered latch. Spider webs dangle from the ceiling. This must be a guest room. 

He wants to find Erwin’s room, but that can wait. He needs to clean each room before moving on, or he won’t be able to finish his task within the allotted time.

*** 

After the guest room is made inhabitable again, he goes back downstairs. It is almost evening. He needs to send the boys home, or Jean’s mom and Mikasa will start calling. 

He hears voices coming from the direction of the library. As he approaches the room, he hears Jean say, “Smith obviously wants us to fix his house because he’s planning to get married and live here with his wife.” 

Levi freezes.

“How do you know that?” Eren asks.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a house must be in wont of a wife.” 

“Why’re you talking like Shakespeare? You’re so weird sometimes, Kirstein.”

“That wasn’t even Shakespeare. I was parodying Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, dumbass. How did you ever pass kindergarten?”

“Shit though, you’re kinda hot when you act like you’re smart.”

Levi walks into the room just as Eren tackles Jean onto an armchair. He clears his throat. The boys leap apart. 

“What have I told you two horny brats about being in the same room together?” Levi says.

After they have apologized, he sends them home. He has a headache. Probably from all the Windex he used to clean the windows. Yeah, that’s all. 

He decides to head home himself. Tomorrow is Sunday, so he will have another whole day to clean. He locks the front doors behind him and looks at the large porch swing. Perfect for two. 

Jean is just a dumb kid, Levi reminds himself. What does he know about Erwin?

***

He is stripping down the bed in the second guest room when Erwin calls. Levi gives him an update on the house: the main floor is squeaky-clean because Jean and Eren finally got their act together and did as they were told today, the upstairs is coming along, the basement is still untouched, and no Levi is not going to throw any antiques away or choose new furniture and wallpaper. 

“All I can do is pack the old stuff away,” Levi says. 

After a moment, Erwin replies, “That’s fine. And you can take anything you like. I’ll arrange for a charity pickup service to take the furniture.”

“You don’t want to keep anything for sentimental value?” Levi can’t remember Erwin ever expressing any dislike for his parents. It’s odd that he wants to get rid of everything. But then again, maybe the future wife has seen the place and told Erwin that she doesn’t want any of this stuff.

Levi considers asking. Erwin is still on the other end, breathing softly into the phone. Levi remembers Erwin breathing into his ear, warm and gentle, one hand rubbing circles into Levi’s hip. When was that? Must have been the last time Levi slept over at the apartment. Could have been any of the many times he slept with Erwin. Almost two years of that shit and that bastard doesn’t tell him about the girlfriend. 

Maybe Erwin doesn’t have a girlfriend yet, Levi reminds himself. Maybe he is just preparing for one, for when he turns forty and wants to produce little blonde Smith babies. Erwin is always on top of whatever game he is playing, always thinks at least ten steps ahead. Whenever he asks Levi to join him in any game, even those dumb games people have at parties, Levi replies, “What’s the point? I’ll save us both the time and energy by giving up right now.”

He isn’t going to bring up the girlfriend until Erwin does, Levi decides. He asks instead, “When are you going to come by for an inspection?” 

Erwin replies, “There is no need for an inspection. I am happy with whatever you want to do. But, if you insist, I can visit next weekend.”

“Yeah, you better. I don’t want to hear you complain later about how I didn’t do things right, you know.”

“I believe you are projecting, Levi. You’re the one who tells people to redo their cleaning. How many times have you made your boys cry already?”

“Not once. They’re out having lunch now, can you believe it? Damn, I’ve gotten soft.”

Erwin laughs, a low sound that sends a pleasant tingle down Levi’s spine. Erwin doesn’t have a girlfriend, Levi tells himself. What kind of guy wastes lunch hour on Sunday talking to another guy about a house when he can spend that time with a girlfriend?

“Take care, Levi,” Erwin says after awhile. And then, tone playful, “Don’t let the dust mites bite.”

“You’re a very strange man, Erwin,” Levi replies before hanging up.

***

Hange has been rambling on and on about her latest experiment for the last ten minutes straight. Even Moblit’s eyes have glazed over. Levi chews on his cheeseburger and goes over his plans for tomorrow. Two class periods back-to-back, where the students will be doing their fitness tests. Lunch. Then a meeting with Principal Nile Dok (a lazyass, the only real reason he is allowed to run Maria High is because the parents like him). And then-

“Gotta go!” Hange announces, already halfway to the door. “Good night, Levi!”

“Where the hell is Shitty Glasses going?” Levi asks Moblit.

“Back to the lab, probably,” Moblit says, sighing.

“Oh yeah!” Hange pivots on one heel, tugging a boot onto the other foot. “You want to come with, babe?”

There was a time Hange would not have remembered to ask. Must be true love, Levi thinks as Moblit jumps out of his chair with a big smile. How far those two nerds have come. 

After they have left, Levi clears the McDonalds wrappers off the table and wipes the table down. He turns the lights off and then goes down to his basement. A cricket greets him at the bottom of the stairs. He tosses it out into the backyard and then washes his hands.

He strips his clothes off and then goes into the shower. A perk of living here is that he never has to worry about the water turning cold while he is showering. Hange showers once a week, if at all, and Moblit takes his in the evenings. 

Levi shampoos his hair and then jacks off, thinking about the first time Erwin had given him head. Erwin’s leather couch was so soft against Levi’s back, Erwin’s mouth so wet around his dick, Erwin’s large fingers hard and digging into Levi’s thighs, the blond hair soft, brushing against Levi’s stomach, and Levi had gripped that thick hair with both his hands, yanked hard as he came down Erwin’s throat.

And a week after that, after dinner at some posh place, Erwin had twined their pinkies together like they were some ridiculous teenage couple and said, “Why don’t you move in with me, Levi?” 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Levi had replied. “You barely even know me.”

Levi had regretted his hasty answer as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but before he could explain further, Erwin had replied, “Ah, well, whatever you like. I don’t mind being, what do they call it … friends-with-benefits?”

Erwin can be a really sweet guy sometimes, Levi reflects as he towels off after the shower. Not the kind of guy you cross at work, but he is fairly relaxed about personal relationships. Can’t meet up for coffee? No problem, another time. Don’t want to introduce me to your childhood friends because of what I am wearing? No problem, I’ll take this $5000 coat off right away and this tie too, is this okay, Levi? You want to move to suburbia with Hange, to live in her basement, instead of moving in with me? I’ll visit, it’s not that far.

Levi has made plenty of mistakes in his life, but becoming friends with Erwin Smith isn’t one of them.

***

“Levi,” Nile says, “why haven’t I got a single complaint about you all year?”

“How long are you going to keep that disgusting goatee, Nile?” Levi replies. “Either shave it, or grow it out, damn.”

Nile checks off a box on his evaluation sheet. Probably the “No” next to “Is a good team player.” Levi crosses his legs and then checks his nails. A hangnail is starting to form on his right thumb. He will have to clip it after this meeting is over. 

“Hurry up,” Levi says. “Unlike you, I have things to do besides sitting around in an office and kissing up to the Board.”

It’s a nice office though. The chairs are cushy. Nile has a framed photo of his family on his desk. His wife Mary is smiling in it, radiant, her hands resting on the shoulders of her elder two children while Nile holds the infant in his arms. Erwin used to have a thing for Mary. Levi wonders, sometimes, what went wrong between them.

“Levi, I am warning you,” Nile says, attempting to look mean, “you better not be threatening the students to keep them quiet about how rude and foul-mouthed you are.”

“The parents already know what I’m like. Parent-teacher conferences, remember? Are we done here?”

Nile, scowling, signs off on the bottom of the evaluation sheet. He says, “The only reason you haven’t been fired yet is because we can’t find anyone else willing to teach gym. As soon as we do, you’re fired.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve been hearing that for the past three years.”

“I’m going to talk to Erwin about this,” Nile promises, leaning back in his chair. “I hear he’s moving back to his family home. He’ll have more time to visit this school now.”

“What is Erwin going to do, spank me into becoming a nicer teacher?” Levi rolls his eyes. “Or make me stand in a corner and think about the bad things I have done?”

“He’s probably going to get married soon.” Nile strokes his goatee thoughtfully. “Good for him. Marriage changes people. He’ll be less willing to put up with your bullshit then.”

Levi, halfway to the door, turns to stare. He cannot believe what he is hearing. First Jean and now Nile. 

“What?” Nile snaps.

“You’re really living the easy life, aren’t you,” Levi says. “So much time for gossip.”

***

Levi stops by the Smith estate on Wednesday evening. About half his ninth grade failed their fitness tests, which means they have to retake the tests tomorrow because Nile Dok refuses to sign report cards that have anything less than a C- on it. Which means Levi will have to waste his lunch hour and planning periods on those students. He needs to let off some steam.

He has two bedrooms left. He decides to leave Erwin’s for later, a reward for himself for mouthing off to Nile only once today. The master bedroom first then.

This room is starting to get dusty too, but it is relatively cleaner than the two guest bedrooms. The dresser and two closets have already been emptied. Levi sits down on the king-sized bed and imagines a younger Erwin rushing into the room and jumping on the bed, waking his parents up. Like in the sit-coms. Happy family time. Unlike what Levi had in his foster homes before he turned eighteen and moved in with Hange and tried to make something of himself. 

By the time he finishes dusting and vacuuming, it is past ten. He won’t have time for Erwin’s room, but he wants a quick peek before he leaves. A preview of sorts. It’s his reward, after all.

He opens the door and sneezes. As expected. He switches the lights on. 

He feels incredibly stupid.

The room is almost as bare as the guest rooms. Only the color of the wallpaper, a baby blue, and a framed photo frame indicate that this room belonged to Erwin. Levi goes through the wardrobe and closet just to make sure, but no, there is nothing there. 

He sits down on the bed and picks up the photo. Erwin was a chubby blond, his eyes a washed-out blue in the flash of the camera. He is standing between his parents, wearing very preppy clothes and looking very earnest. The late Mr. Smith is tall and kindly looking; the mother is beautiful. They’re standing in front of something famous no doubt, but Levi doesn’t know the name or where it is located. Maybe England? Erwin had said something about his father being a schoolteacher in England before moving to the States. Or the photo can be of Germany. His mother’s side is from Frankfurt. 

“You can come with me the next time I visit,” Erwin had said after telling Levi about Frankfurt, and then murmured something in Levi’s ear, harsh and guttural. 

When Levi had replied, “yeah, no dankeschön,” Erwin had laughed for like five minutes straight. Such a loser. Farlan and Isabel never laugh at jokes like that.

Levi puts the frame back on the nightstand. He misses his loser more than he wants to. This is the longest they have gone without getting the “benefits” part of their friends-with-benefits arrangement. Maybe Erwin is losing interest. Jean and Nile could be right about him. Anyway, two more days until Saturday. 

***

Levi is sitting on the porch swing and eating his dinner when Erwin arrives. It is past eight. Levi sent Eren and Jean home an hour ago. He watches Erwin park his car next to the beat-up Toyota, watches him walk up the porch steps.

“Nice weather, isn’t it?” Erwin says as he unbuttons his blazer.

Levi swallows the last bite of his grilled cheese sandwich, which he made using Mrs. Smith’s sandwich grill press. Those machines are a real game changer, he knows now. He needs to tell Moblit to buy one. 

“Yeah,” he replies, as he wipes his fingers on a fancy dinner napkin he found in the kitchen cupboards. “Why’re you so dressed up? It’s shorts weather.”

Erwin says, “I was working. Well, technically, I was at Nile’s dinner party, but I had to attend for work interests.”

“What an exciting life you lead.” 

Erwin replies, “It is what it is. How are you?” He smiles at Levi, a fond smile, like he is happy to find Levi here, sitting on the swing and using his mother’s napkin. “Tired of cleaning yet? Ready to give me the grand tour?”

“Give you a tour of your own house? Fuck no. Go check it out yourself.”

“Well.” Erwin looks at him for a moment. “As you like. Be right back.”

Levi lies down on the swing, props his feet up on an arm. Erwin will probably feel a bit sad on seeing the inside of the house. The furniture was taken away on Thursday, and Levi spent the whole of today vacuuming, sweeping, and mopping with the boys. The main floor is very clean and very empty. Even Eren and Jean had stopped talking after a point, creeped out by the way their voices were echoing in the rooms.

But it’s not a bad thing, necessarily, having an empty house. Erwin can fill it with what he likes now. Can reorganize his life, like he has been trying to reorganize the school system in this district.

Levi remembers the first time he saw Erwin. He had been interviewing for the gym teacher position and basically been told to fuck off by Nile, and while he was walking out of the conference room, Erwin had walked in. He only noticed how tall Erwin was at that moment, felt smaller than usual. 

He was almost at the front entrance when Nile called him back. Erwin wanted to talk to him, Nile said.

The interview that followed, with Erwin only, went much better. Levi didn’t bother to filter himself when answering questions, but Erwin only said at the end, “I think you have potential, Levi. I can give you a chance here, but what you do with it is on you.” 

He obviously hasn’t been doing too bad. Three full years of teaching come June. And he is, or was, getting along pretty well with Erwin. He gets invited to weekend getaways during summer break. They have frequent dinner dates. They do cafés on Sunday morning. Friday night sex. Saturday all-day sex, once. 

It is 8:30 by the time Erwin returns. He closes the front doors behind him as he says, “You’ve done a wonderful job, Levi. This is the cleanest I have seen my parents’ house.”

“It wasn’t hard to clean. There was barely anything in any of the bedrooms.”

“You kept the piano.”

“Of course. You have to play it for me. When I have trouble sleeping, I’ll come over, and you can play it for me so that I can fall right asleep.” 

Erwin has that annoying look on his face now, that oh Levi is so cute, so Levi asks quickly, “Where are your kiddie toys and clothes?”

“My mother donated them before she moved.” Erwin leans against the railing of the porch. “Were you very disappointed about not getting to see them?”

“Why would I be? I got to see a picture of you, that’s good enough. You were such a fat kid. Bet people pinched your cheeks all the time. Were you in any commercials?”

Erwin says, “Before I answer that question, you have to show me your baby pictures.”

“Yeah, never gonna happen.”

Levi has some pictures from middle school, when he used to skip class to roam around the city with Isabel and Farlan. Cheap photos from photo booths and stuff, the three of them making stupid faces. 

“I am sure you were adorable,” Erwin says. “I wish I had known you from then.”

Levi sits up and kisses him, mostly so that Erwin won’t be able to see him blush. 

Erwin kisses him back. His mouth opens up around Levi’s. He puts his hands in Levi’s hair, and he sucks on Levi’s tongue. 

Levi pulls him closer. He wants Erwin on the swing with him, wants Erwin in him.

He is tugging on the button on Erwin’s pants when Erwin closes a hand around his.

“Not now,” Erwin says, wiping the corner of his mouth. He fixes his hair. “I’m running a bit late. I have an appointment with … I will call you later, Levi.”

He may have offered to walk Levi to the car before leaving, but Levi couldn’t hear the words over the sound of the blood pounding in his ears. 

***

“Levi, there’s no need for you to clean my bathroom.”

“Yes, there is. You’re going to catch something from shitting in this shitty craphole that used to be a toilet. Or Moblit might.”

Hange leans against the door of the bathroom and sighs. Levi continues scrubbing. 

“Alright,” Hange says at length. “What’s this about?”

“This is about how filthy your bathroom is.”

“Levi, people get dumped all the time. They usually do something fun to take their mind off of things. Hey!” Hange straightens up and grins. “Do you want to eat ice cream with me? That’s something people do after getting dumped.”

“How could I have gotten dumped when I wasn’t even in a relationship to begin with? You need to work on your logic, Shitty Glasses. How did you become head researcher at your lab again?” He pours more Bleach down the toilet.

“You know, you could just ask him. That’s the easiest way. Just go to Erwin and ask, Erwin, are you getting married? And he’ll answer. And you can mope for a while and then realize that you can totally find someone else, right, a guy with less bushy eyebrows? Problem solved!”

Levi puts his brush down. He turns to glare at Hange. 

“Who have you been talking to?” he demands.

“Please. The whole town knows that the Smith estate has been transferred to Erwin. And you’re not hard to read, Levi.” 

“Fucking gossips. Why did I move out here again?”

“Because we’re family. We have to stay together until you’re ready to leave to the nest.”

Levi can’t argue with the family part. They did have some good times together, him and Hange and Isabel and Farlan.

And they all have to move on. It’s how things work. He misses Isabel and Farlan (and the distance between them seems immeasurable sometimes, even though they’re only about ten miles away) but they’re still friends. He can still be friends with Erwin, even after Erwin gets married. Yeah, it will be complicated because he is going to miss the sex, but he did this to himself, didn’t he, by not agreeing for more when it was offered. He’s a grownass man, he can handle it, heartbreak or whatever poetic name it’s called, this feeling that’s already settling in, heavy, suffocating, bitter. 

He will say one goodbye and then move on. That’s the least he can do for a friend.

***

He heads for the city after school. His first stop is the Bath & Body Works Isabel is currently managing. “Hey, it pays the bills and gives me time to paint and teach karate!” is her answer whenever anyone tells her to get a better job. 

“Big Bro!” she shouts, as soon as Levi walks through the door. All the customers turn around to stare at him. 

“Hi, kid,” Levi says.

She hands him a gigantic shopping bag and directs him towards the newest selection of candles. “You’re gonna make your little sister happy by making big purchases, aren’t you?” she says.

“And here I thought I’d be getting things for free.”

“You’re such a cheapskate. Try that peach-scented candle. It’s great for spring. How’s Hange? How are your kids? Eren still giving you trouble? How about Nile? How about Erwin? He came by recently.”

“Oh yeah?” Levi puts three peach-scented candles into his bag. “Was he buying candles too?”

“Nah. He just wanted to say hello.” Isabel squeezes his arm. “I really missed you when I saw him. Farlan and I were saying the other day how he’s taken you away from us. Make sure you visit Farlan too, okay?”

After leaving the store, Levi calls Farlan and arranges to have dinner at the nearest Chipotle. Farlan is always more talkative and less severe when eating spicy food. 

Farlan arrives in a preppy sweater and skinny jeans. He has a violin case in hand. He informs Levi over their burrito bowls that he plays the violin after work for a band. “Recreational activity,” he says, wiping his nose with a napkin.

“How do lawyers even have time for recreational activities?” Levi asks.

“The key is competence,” Farlan sniffs. “And time management skills.”

“Just do me a favor and never play in front of me.”

“You have no taste. Of course I won’t play for you.”

They part ways at the crosswalk, and then Levi walks five blocks to reach Erwin’s apartment building. The doorman lets him in when he says that he’s here to visit Erwin. 

After one knock, Erwin opens the door. He looks like he has just returned home or is about to go out. Probably just returned. When Levi looks closely he can see the bags underneath Erwin’s tired blue eyes, and there is a hint of a five o-clock shadow. 

“Levi?” Erwin says. “What brings you here?”

Levi grabs him by his tie, pulls him down, and kisses him. He was going to ask “are you getting married,” but that can wait. He will find out his answer soon enough anyway. He probably doesn’t even need to ask.

But Erwin sure is taking his time about answering. He is pulling Levi into his arms, he is pushing him up against the wall. He is taking Levi’s pants off. They’re fucking against the wall. Levi is coming too fast, coming all over Erwin’s hand.

“You want to eat dinner?” Erwin asks afterwards.

“No.”

They are now sitting on the cool hardwood floor of the hall. Erwin is pressing soft kisses up Levi’s jawline, gently touching his lips to Levi’s right cheek, which is raw where it scraped against the wall. 

“Fuck me again,” Levi says. “In your bed.”

Erwin takes his nice shirt and dress pants off for this round, keeps the lights on, looks at Levi the whole time. Their first time was like this too. They have come full circle.

After Erwin falls asleep, Levi climbs out of the bed and gets dressed. He looks at Erwin. At the parted mouth, the ridiculously thick eyebrows Levi likes to kiss, the gentle rise and fall of Erwin’s toned stomach, the left arm stretched towards Levi. 

He kisses Erwin’s fingers. Then he walks out to the living room. 

He was planning to head straight for the door, but he can’t help stopping to look around one last time. That is where Erwin had sucked him off, on that couch. That blue blanket, folded on the armchair, was a birthday present from him. He had knitted it for Erwin as a joke. That glass coffee table, now covered with home décor magazines, was a good footstool.

Levi goes over to the windows and presses his fingers to the cool glass. The city is an expanse of dazzling lights. The sky is in shades of blue-black. No stars or moon in sight.

Not a bad ride, he thinks, all in all.

***

On their last day of volunteer service, Levi tells the boys they can do whatever they want in the house while he fills out their forms. 

“Anything?” Eren asks, cautiously. “Like, seriously, anything?”

“Eren, shut up,” Jean says from the kitchen doorway. “Come on.”

“You shut up, Jean. I’m just making sure.” Eren turns back to Levi. “Um, Sir, are we allowed to play the piano?”

Levi replies, “The right question is can you play the piano?”

“Thank you, Sir,” Eren says.

A few minutes later, Levi hears him banging very loudly on the piano while Jean laughs like a hyena. Levi sighs, massages his temples, and continues writing about how outstanding Eren and Jean are at production management and renovation.

He is signing his name on Eren’s form when he realizes that he can’t hear the boys anymore. He sets Mrs. Smith’s kitchen timer for five minutes and then gets started on three grilled sandwiches.

When the timer goes off, he yells for the boys to come to the kitchen. After they have arrived, both pink in the face and shirts buttoned incorrectly, Levi says, “Eat, take your forms, and leave. I don’t want to see your faces until Monday.”

“Yes, Sir,” they reply in unison.

The house is too quiet for Levi’s liking after they are gone. He checks all the rooms one more time to make sure everything is sparkling. Then he places two peach-scented candles on the kitchen counter.

He is putting his shoes on when he sees the door leading to the garage start to open. He grabs the vase in the foyer, glad that he decided to keep this thing, when he sees that the person coming inside is Erwin.

“What the fuck, Erwin!” Levi snaps, putting the vase down. “You almost made me shit my pants.”

“Hello,” Erwin replies, pocketing his keys. “Sorry. Should I have called?”

“Whatever. Your house.” Levi shoves his foot into his other shoe. “Anyway, everything’s done. Welcome home and so on. Bye.”

“Levi.” Erwin grabs his arm. “We are not done here.”

He is a grown man, Levi reminds himself. He can do things like talk about how it’s impolite to leave without saying goodbye after sex. And, maybe he is just overreacting. Erwin is probably holding onto him because he wants to hand over a check.

“You don’t have to pay me,” Levi says. “Think of my services as a wedding gift. I hope you’ll be … happy. Yeah. That’s the right thing to say, right?”

Erwin pulls Levi closer as he says, “Thank you, Levi. I am very happy with your wedding gift. This place looks great. You think so too, yes?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Good, because I want you to live here with me.”

Erwin’s eyes are very clear, smiling, so blue. He is not running a fever then. But just to make sure, Levi checks his forehead and then asks, “You want a glass of water? That helps with confusion. I think. Let me call Hange.”

“No, stay with me.” Erwin pulls him into the kitchen. He glances at the island counter. “Oh, you brought me candles.”

“For you and your future wife.” Levi pushes Erwin away and moves to the other side of the counter. He crosses his arms. “Alright. What’s wrong with you?”

“Well,” Erwin smiles, “there is no future wife, but there is a person I like very much, and I was hoping he would live here with me.”

Levi has to take a seat on the kitchen counter, since he feels a bit unsteady in the legs and there are no chairs available.

“Unbelievable,” he says when he can speak again. “You’re such a fucking bastard, Erwin. You could have told me from the beginning.”

“And what would you have said then?”

“I don’t know!”

“I did give you hints. How many times did I tell you to do as you liked with the house? I did this because I want this to be a place you will be willing to call home.”

“That’s not good enough.” Levi wants to kick himself. He is such a fucking dumbass, worse than Nile. When has Erwin ever shown any real interest in women or other men in these past two years? Other people may have misunderstood Erwin’s intentions in moving here because of the poker face, but as his so-called friend, Levi should have realized.

“Is this good enough, then?” Erwin walks over to him, puts his hands on either side of Levi’s face. “Will you live in this house with me, my beloved?”

Not friends-with-benefits anymore then, Levi thinks. “I don’t like your idea of romance, Erwin,” he says. “You could have just given me flowers or a fucking ring.” 

“Those can be arranged,” Erwin replies. “Anything for you, Levi.”

There is nothing more Levi has to say to that. And he is pleased that Erwin still wants to live with him. He lets Erwin kiss him, and before Erwin pulls back, murmurs into Erwin’s mouth, “Yes, to what you asked before.”


End file.
